January

Getting ready for the new year by setting goals??? You would think so but not here... we are practicing, practicing, practicing. We have some big programs coming up this spring.

There is plenty of room for everyone to play around! hahaha John is giving dance lesson to the family.

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

I think Katie savored every last bite of her birthday cake. She will be leaving for India soon. She is going to spend probably the next six months over there working on a building project. We will miss her sooooooooo much!

Nature is so majestically beautiful!

I hope the bunnies are warm in there.

Deep, deep, deep, snow. We we all excited. This was the second time we've had a snow storm this year.

Last year our wonderful neighbors next door bought us a snow blower. It helps a lot!

Betsy shoveling out the neighbors porch! We all enjoy going around the neighborhood and shoveling people's walk ways.

"When ye are in the service of your fellow men ye are only in the service of your God"

Looks like the sidewalk is nice and clean of snow. Good job Isaac!

While the boys were probably enjoying a snowball fight. Marilee made sure the bunny cages were dug out and that they were acclimating well with the snow.

These times we have together as a family our precious moments. It is taking the time to notice and observe the simple but important things of our lives.

Building Update!

This should be voted as the funniest picture of the month! Where there is a break time, there is always creative ways to find enjoyment... like teeter-tatoring on debris.

How is it? Isaac is testing out the new bench he help make with Seth.

Good Job Seth and Isaac! They look good so far.

Oh Boy! We got plenty of tile.

We are excited about laying this tile down. It has a lot of character and variation.

John and Seth go in the morning and lay tile for couple hours. Little by little it is starting to take shape. The plan is that they start at the front door and are making a pathway to the back of the room.

Dancing or sweeping? Well whatever you are doing you have good style!

Endless cement mixing. I think there is around 1500 square feet of tile and cement. Seth and John will be experts by the time they finish this big project. What a wonderful job they are doing.

Knees hurting yet? It is looking good boys! You are almost there! I can see the back of the wall.

On Saturday's we all try to spend time helping John and Seth with the tile. Cleaning all the excess cement is the next step before putting in the grout. I cannot believe the tile is almost done. Although there is still a lot more to do on the building this will be a relief to have done.

The Lord has blessed our lives so much. We hope that we can dedicate and use the building for His work and glory!

Back to Work!

I'm sorry about the belated updates but I am just getting back into a schedule and I have been trying to organize all the pictures that we took during the holidays. I will quickly try to catch you all up on what has been going on in "R" lives this last month.

Our friends at the Mosaic gave us this sign and it fit perfectly in one of the front windows of our building. I guess this is the "official" sign that we actually own the building and that we are going to keep it for awhile.

So to continue with the projects.

This is a view of the front room in the building. We wanted to open up the whole front room, so that we would have more remodeling options. Naturally, Graham, Isaac, and Marilee were thrilled to help with this project.

DEMOLITION TIME!

VICTORY!!!

Within an hour the walls were down and all that was left was...

a pile of rubble!

6'10" WOW!!!
This is how Isaac likes to measure the distance from the floor to his head. It makes him feel taller, right Isaac?

Who's painting those walls!?!
Yup, KT and I got to paint the walls that beautiful orange rust color. (Believe me, it looks better in person.)

As we planned for 2012 and organized our music for the year, we have also been getting some skits together. Well after some deliberation, we decided that we needed a few more members to add to our band. So, Katie and I spent a week sewing, sewing, and sewing some more...

The result?
4 life-size dolls, complete with wigs!!!

We're just a couple of "dolls". Wouldn't you agree?
With the addition of these very interesting contraptions, we also have the loss of one member of our family from the home front. Katie left the U.S. on January 23rd and traveled for over 36 hours to answer the Lord's call to serve Him in India. For several years Katie has been a volunteer at an orphanage in Southern India named Families for Children (FFC). You can read more about her work in the India page. Last year she took a break and stayed home to help us with our music programs, as well as recuperate from Mal-nutrition and exhaustion. With the dawn of a new year, the call to serve came once more and she has set off on another grand adventure.



"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

1 Nephi 3:7

Tis the season...

to spread the glad tidings that brought such great joy to the world 2011 years ago. It is a season of celebrating the coming of the greatest gift our Father in Heaven gave to us, a Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

From Dec. 1 to Dec. 25 we were originally scheduled to perform 25 programs but because of last minute opportunities and requests we ended up performing 30 times this month. It has been such a blessing to proclaim Christ's birth and share the true meaning of Christmas, with so many people.

This is one reason why the blog has been so quite lately. So I am going to go back a little bit to the beginning of this month. So here it goes...

We have officially moved into the back room of "R" building. The floor looks so beautiful and is very solid (thank you floor crew!) It will be so nice to practice and dance on.

"Ding Dong merrily on High, In heaven the bells are ringing"

The first Saturday in December we had the opportunity to perform a short Christmas program as apart of the Great Plains Opry. There was a professional photographer there that took some pictures for us (since our nice camera is still out of commission.) So here are some of them...

While we were waiting for our sound check time, John found the grand piano in the foyer of the performance center and when John and a piano get together we always enjoy listening to a spirited rendition of the piano concerto the "Turkish March".

Another pre-show pose!

What's wrong with this picture?

To put it mildly I got a haircut.

I really like having short hair; so, so far so good.

I also got my braces off and just have a retainer now.

What a relief!

Holiday Smiles!

The holly looks very festive on you banjo, Isaac!

John has also got a touch of festive fever and loves to wear red socks when he does the Christmas Polka.

Very Christmassy, John!

I found this random photo and could not leave it out.

Merry Christmas to one and All!

After our sound check on stage was over, we enjoyed a delicious Subway supper and then some very relaxed and hilarious conversations with our good friends Mr. and Mrs. Pfiel.

The visiting and chatting was by far our favorite part of the evening. We love talking with and getting to know these wonderful people better.

Thank you for being our friends and God bless you!

Show time!

Hey Joseph, is that a dancing song?

Of course it was, we started our program with the song, "Let's have an Old fashioned Christmas Polka". John and I had learned a short polka routine and had fun trying to dance it in a 10x15 rectangle.

Anyone who dances the polka will know that this is nearly impossible but who cares when you are having fun.

OH NO!!!

Someone "forgot" to bring in all of the carols that we were going to play.

Well Graham ran off stage, grabbed the music and when he was coming back with it he just happened to "accidently" trip, fall, and scatter the music all over the stage.

Oopps

So while everyone was "sorting" the music, I would start a carol and then Joseph would stick another song on the stand and then I would switch to the next song. Luckily everyone had the order of songs memorized so we did not really need the sheet music!

After playing through the medley with just the violin then the rest of the family sang through it while Graham was still trying to find the right song.

We will have to post a video of this!

It was classic.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow...

right, Graham?

"Joy to the World, The Lord is come,

let Earth receive Her King"

Then we ended with our favorite Christmas Song, One Bright Star.

At the very end of the show all of the people that played at the Opry came on stage and sang Jingle Bells.

This is just a taste of what we have spent this last month doing. It has kept us very busy but we have also felt God blessing our lives abundantly. We feel honored to be able to sing about the same joyful message that the angels sang about so long ago.

We wish you a Merry Merry Christmas this year and always!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (Isaiah 9:6)

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14)